Bounen no Xamdou

Sentan Island is a small island surrounded by the Yuden Sea. It exists in a state of dreamlike tranquility, cut off from the war between the Northern Government and the Southern Continent Free Zone. Our hero, Akiyuki Takehara, lives on Sentain Island along with his mother Fusa. He is currently separated from his father, the town doctor Ryuzo, but the bond between father and son remains. One day, after taking Ryuzo the lunch that Fusa has made for him as usual, Akiyuki arrives at school, where he is caught up in an explosion along with his friends, Haru and Furuichi. The explosion produces a mysterious light, which enters Akiyuki's arm, causing him excruciating pain. He's given no time to understand it, however, as the white-haired girl who rode on the bus with him guides him to a power unlike anything he's ever known.

Nakiami Main

Sanpei, Yuuko Japanese

Takehara, Akiyuki Main

Abe, Atsushi Japanese

Nishimura, Haru Main

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Benikawa, Ishuu Supporting

Tamai, Yumi Japanese

Tsunomata, Raigyo Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Yango Supporting

Honjou, Yuutaro Japanese

Takehara, Ryuzou Supporting

Ishizuka, Unshou Japanese

Kakisu, Toujirou Supporting

Matsumoto, Yasunori Japanese

Teraoka, Furuichi Supporting

Tachibana, Shinnosuke Japanese

Sukakki, Prois Supporting

Neya, Michiko Japanese

Ooyama, Ryou Producer

Miyaji, Masayuki Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard

Takadera, Takeshi Sound Director

Nomura, Kazuya Episode Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, Key Animation

Reviews

Feb 8, 2009

agentsmith

Recommended

As many people have already said, this anime is produced by the same people who brought you Eureka 7. Keep that in mind if you plan on watching this anime.

First off, check out the OP. Holy jebus it's sweet. Catches you instantly, and gets you all excited for what looks (judging from the animation quality) an awesome show. In some respects, this is a let down. While the animation is superb, the soundtrack is hauntingly good, and the characters are generally quite fleshed out (just enough info for you to find them interesting)... the story is near random. This anime seems confused as to ... what it's trying to say. On the one hand, we are basically following Akiyuki on his journey becoming a Xam'd, which is done quite well in terms of painting a comprehensive picture of the trials he endures.
Then it falls apart. The world as it is presented is split into two warring hemispheres, with some kinda naturalist "Tessik" tribe caught in the middle. No justification is ever given for this war, and for some unknown reason the Tessik are ostracized by everybody. As the series progresses, I was torn. In some regards, it's amazing: The characters are brought to life fully. You understand their hopes and dreams, and why they may be sabotaging their own attempts to reach them. In other regards, it's confusing and disappointing: Things keep happening to Akiyuki with no background reason, and the whole concept of a Xam'd is some kind of forbidden topic. Also, side stories seem to be the order of the day. A LOT of episodes are devoted to Nakiami's side trips, where she always seems to be preventing some poor sap from being engulfed by the Xam'd in him. (They also never explain the nature of a Xam'd... that's for you to decide. And good luck figuring out what the deal is with Human-form weapons...)

Conclusions? Well, it was a fun series to watch, but you'll get MUCH more out of it if you focus on a character driven storyboard. Pay attention to character interactions over actual plot, and you'll be much more satisfied. Otherwise you'll end up like me, wishing the creators had decided to actually make the 50 odd episodes that would have barely been sufficient to explain the story they threw at you, instead of cramming way to many (admittedly interesting) ideas into a mere 26 eps. Bottom line: If you found Eureka 7 too slow, but liked the ideas... you'll have a good time with Xam'd: Lost Memories. But you'll still wind up with a couple wtf moments and an abrupt ending.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Apr 2, 2009

BarnacleBlister

Mixed Feelings

In order to watch this show, just sit back and take in the visuals. Don't concern yourself with the plot or characters otherwise you'll have nothing to hold onto.

This is a tremendously creative series set in an intriguing world with beautiful animation. Unfortunately, nothing about the story or characters even comes close to matching the show's outward beauty.

This isn't a boring show; it constantly shows the viewer new locations, characters, confrontations. Locales include a pleasant island community, Himalayanesque mountains, and much more sumptuous scenery. Character designs are all equally creative from the military uniforms to the Zanbani's rag-tag crew to the various culture's depicted. ... "Xam'd" also earns points from me for some of the most creative monster designs I seen. Every bit of eye candy propels the show briskly through its 26 episodes.

Beyond that, there is nothing. Those who have seen "Eureka 7" will instantly recognize some of the characters and possibly carry over some attachment from that show, but really, "Xam'd"'s characters are simply hollow pawns to the story.

A story that is no more intriguing than any of its characters. Honestly, I would be hard-pressed to even give a plot synopsis. There are many good ideas in "Xam'd," none of which are developed to fruition. There's a war; however, I couldn't tell you who was on what side or what the cause was. There are things called Xam'd or hiruko or something; I have no idea what they are after even after watching the show. There are a hundred examples of this.

This damn thing takes so many directions, incorporates so many details, and continually adds to the fracas that nothing is ever given its proper gestation time. It almost feels like an abridged version of a larger series.

I still recommend "Xam'd" to people who enjoy quality art and good animation; however, don't frustrate yourself with the finer details of the story -they aren't all that fine anyway.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 18, 2009

yumedarling

Not Recommended

What a disappointment. I expected a lot out of this show as it was done by BONES but it definitely falls apart at a certain point in the series.

There were a lot of things that were done well in the show. The animation was quite beautiful and remained at a high quality all throughout. The music worked although they repeated some themes one too many times. The OP is pretty nice although I think others are better. The concepts they introduced in the first half of the series were quite interesting as well.

But a ton of problems arose ... as the series went on. The characterization was shallow, and this was surprising coming from BONES. Even at the end of the series, it's hard to sympathize with any of the main characters. The presentation was dramatic without being able to create any drama because the audience just never learns enough about anyone, even Akiyuki. The minor characters (especially Ishu and her crew) were there but you never feel like you know them that well either. When characters cried, I could barely understand why they were crying save for the part about Haru's mother. The most well-developed character was probably Nakiami, although she had less screentime than Haru.

Another issue was the world that Xam'd was set in. There is a war and there's apparently a North side and a South side but it never really matters because it's only ever important in relation to the military experiments with the Xam'd. I didn't care about any of the "suffering" or people affected by the war because it seemed to be there just to try to make the war more important. The military also makes a big deal out of the Humanforms, but those are pretty much useless in the grand scheme of things. In fact, many aspects of the show end up being pretty useless in the grand scheme of things including Ishu's postal ship, Ishu in general, Kakisu, Akiyuki's parents (who are shown in a ridiculous amount of scenes with absolutely no effect), and Raigyo.

There were so many interesting ideas and concepts, but the strangely dull presentation and slow pacing don't deliver them to their fullest potential. Everything up until about episode 14 was just fine, but it seems that every decision they made in the plot after that just contributed to less of anything being explained in the series. In my opinion, they should not have separated Akiyuki and Nakiami for the second half of the show.

It's bewildering to me how much I ended up disliking a lot of what happened in this series after such a charming first episode and beginning but I suppose BONES just hasn't been too successful with any of their original plots not based on a manga.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Bounen no Xamdou Episode 26 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) TechnicsMKII - Feb 3, 2009	246 replies	by Kismet69 »» Nov 4, 10:59 AM
	Poll: Bounen no Xamdou Episode 21 Discussion windy - Dec 31, 2008	48 replies	by Kismet69 »» Nov 4, 9:55 AM
	Poll: Bounen no Xamdou Episode 19 Discussion ( 1 2 ) daveid9001 - Dec 17, 2008	61 replies	by Kismet69 »» Nov 3, 2:56 PM
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	Poll: Bounen no Xamdou Episode 18 Discussion ( 1 2 ) cereal - Dec 11, 2008	50 replies	by Archean-Return »» Aug 15, 1:34 AM

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There are only a few studios whose name goes above the title, but BONES is definitely one of them. They're one of the powerhouses of the industry, and for good reason.

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